Monday, April 18, 2011

Manga Mondays (46): Fruits Basket vol. 23 by Natsuki Takaya


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Fruits Basket vol. 23 by Natsuki Takaya

Summary

THE FINAL VOLUME! Curses have been broken and the eternal banquet has finally come to a close. But there are still some loose ends to be wrapped up before the last page of Fruits Basket arrives! How will the members of the Zodiac deal with their newfound freedom? Can forgiveness come in the wake of Akito's past actions, and a new surprising revelation? (courtesy of Goodreads)

Review

Here we are! The final volume. I wonder how many manga make it to 23 volumes. I'm assuming not that many have a story complex enough to last that long unless they're the functional equivalent of sitcoms, with each volume being a stand-alone story.

The curse is broken. Kyo and Tohru are officially together. Yuki and Machi are officially together.

All of the former Zodiac members gather for a banquet with Akito. There Akito reveals that she is in fact a woman! Shigure, Hatori, Ayame, Kureno, and Tohru were the only ones who knew this. Now that Akito is no longer god, she is going to begin living as a woman and try to create a life for herself.

But Akito won't be alone. She and Shigure are happily in love (although with Akito's temper, I bet it will still be rocky). Shigure is content to be with Akito and is no longer writing cheesy romance novels and making off-color jokes.

Yuki, Tohru, and Kyo are all graduating high school. Yuki will be going to college with Machi nearby. Tohru and Kyo will be leaving to live and work in a dojo far away. Kyo wants to live - to see things. He feels terrible for taking away Tohru from the Sohmas. We see just how much every member of the family loves Tohru and what a stalwart she is for all of them. More of a god-figure than Akito, in many ways. Tohru loves the Sohmas as well, but is happy to do whatever makes Kyo happy.

The volume ends with a cute little happily ever after scene.

A good end to a fabulous series. While the ending is a little too clean and happy to be believable, it's still sweet and a nice reward for people who've had such hard lives. I definitely understand why this is the most popular shojo manga.

9 comments:

  1. Its nice that you enjoy mangas.For some reason I'm not able to connect with them the same way I do with books.
    Also I gave you the One Lovely Little Blog Award,so stop by my blog to check the post out. COngrats!!
    Mia
    http://bookaholic5.blogspot.com/

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  2. Even though an ending wrapped up with a pretty little bow isn't always believable, I still really enjoy it when it's been a long journey to get there:) Can't wait to see what Manga series you pick up next!

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  3. Glad you enjoyed this! I enjoyed Fruits Basket too...have you got any ideas as to what series you're featuring next?

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  4. Glad that everyone got a HEA!

    Wow Akito and Shigure in love, never saw that one coming!

    Also can't wait to see which manga series you blog about next!

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  5. For some reason, I thought this manga series was longer than 23 volumes. Maybe I was thinking of another series. I've seen this series placed in the children's dept in some of my local public libraries and some in the teen dept. Which audience do you think it's best suited for?

    p.s. I just got my hands on Vampire Knight 9 and anxiously awaiting 10, 11, and 12. What volume are you on?

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  6. I love Vampire Knight! Do you think it gets worse and worse after the Shizuka arc, or aren't you that far yet?

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  7. This volume, and the one before, I think, made me cry, because of the long journey it had taken for everyone to finally be happy.

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  8. I think Vol 12 of Vampire Knight is out. My library has it as "on order" and there's already a few holds on it. I had to pick up earlier volumes to refresh my memory because I read them so long ago.

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  9. I stopped Fruits Basket around book 18; it just got so depressing. :(

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